India's mass exodus over rumors of violence continues (PHOTOS)

Indian minority residents wait on the platform of the city railway station to board trains.

Credit:

Manjunath Kiran

Northeastern, ethnically distinct Indians continued to crowd into cars and trains to flee southern Indian cities like Bangalore, Chennai and Pune over the weekend.

The widespread panic is rooted in rumors, circulated largely by text message and on social media, that people from the northeast had been targeted by Muslims who were angered about the situation in Assam. There, the indigenous, Hindu Bodo tribe have been clashing with Bengali-speaking Muslims, resulting in the deaths of at least 80 people and the exodus of 400,000, GlobalPost's India correspondent Jason Overdorf reported.

An Indian Islamic student belonging to the Muslim community holds a placard urging northeastern residents not to leave at a railway station in Bangalore on August 17, 2012. About 25,000 people from North East have fled the city in the past three days, a development triggered by fears of impending retributive attacks following Assam violence. Railways have sold around 20,000 extra tickets to Guwahati for six special trains from here to Assam.

Residents of Bangalore throng the platform of the city railway station to board trains bound to Guwahati to leave the city following rumours of communal violence against them, on August 16, 2012 in Bangalore.

Hundreds of Hindu activists hold placards during a protest rally in New Delhi on August 18, 2012 against three weeks of clashes in the northeastern state of Assam between members of the Bodo tribal community and Muslims which have claimed 80 lives and displaced more than 400,000 people.

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